The present invention relates to a floating device capable of being used by swimmers and divers equipped and protected in an adequate and correct manner, in order to descend or "run" rapids or fast rivers, by floating, in an athletic manner, with a minimum of danger, especially when these water courses are bristled or studded with obstacles such as large rocks, trunks or branches, or cut through by falls of relatively great differences in levels or gradients.
To attain the aforementioned objectives in the past, use has been made of inflatable/blown-up buoys or even air-filled inner tubes in round shape or form such as those used in tires of trucks. Nevertheless, the floating devices of such rudimentary and non-adapted/unembellished type present the following inconveniences/disadvantages:
they are as unstable longitudinally as they are transversely;
they are effectively uncontrollable/unable to be guided/directed to slip through whirlpools/eddys of water between visible obstacles, or at a level with the water;
they are fragile and risk, as a result, of getting hung up/caught, or of having brutal encounters with roughness/rough water, resulting in the inevitable puncture for the remainder of the course;
they do not permit/allow sufficient contact with the body of the swimmer at the time of violent movements caused by the rough waters, falls, or quick changes of direction;
they do not permit a good, stable entry into the water following a rapids at the end of a falls; and
finally, they are uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous for the body of the swimmer who, insufficiently attached or protected, risks serious injuries.
It was not, therefore, readily evident in the prior art to construct a floating device having the requisite structural and functional characteristics to eliminate all the inconveniences enumerated above.